Frequent BSOD - Please Help

bachuba

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Oct 12, 2011
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Issue: Frequent Blue Screens of Death

Motherboard: Asus M4A87TD EVO
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24-2N)
Video Card: Radeon HD 6770 (Catalyst 11.9 Drivers)
Power Supply: 750 Watt
OS: Windows 7x64

Things I've tried:
- Replaced old video card with Radeon HD 6770
- Replaced old power supply with 750 watt Corsair
- Updated to newest version of BIOS for motherboard (2.1)
- Ran MemTestx86 without errors for 7 passes
- Ran Windows 7 memory test without errors for 7 passes
- Hard drive's check out without errors according to SeaTools
- Reinstalled Windows 7 (after getting the new video card)
- System temperature ranges are normal (40-50C)
- Specifically set Memory Frequency to 1600 and timing in accordance with Memory specs in the BIOS
- Removed 1 memory stick
- BSOD seemed to become less frequent, but still occurred
- Results did not change with one memory stick or the other being the only one in the system

Blue Screen Errors Received:
SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, INTERRUPT_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M

Files referenced in Blue Screen Erros:
C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgmms1.sys, C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe, C:\Windows\system32\win32k.sys, C:\Windows\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys

Occurs when:
- Playing STALKER: Call of Pripyat - Very consistently a few minutes into the game
- Playing Batman: Arkham Asylum - Farly consistently a few minutes into the game
- World of Warcraft - Randomly. Could occur every few minutes, could go an hour or 2 without happening
- Leaving my computer on over night I'm often greeted to a message in the morning stating Windows shut down unexpectedly


More Details:
My computer recently died after slowly showing signs of the old motherboard playing out. I purchased the Motherboard, Processor, and Memory listed above and installed with the rest of my existing components. When I began receiving BSOD, I thought it might have been my old video card, which was only supported with Legacy vista drivers under Windows 7. So I replaced with the Radeon HD 6770. When the issues persisted, I reinstalled windows from scratch thinking the old drivers might still be in play. No good. Thought maybe it could be the power supply, so I upgraded from 500 watts to 750. Still happening! Thus far I've spent a lot of money ruling components out one-by-one and am no closer to figuring out what is going on. Any ideas?
 
Solution
What is the Model number of the RAM????
Check the Mobos Memory Compatibility List and check if that RAM is supported.
I have my doubts about the RAM alone, nothing else in the rig is abnormal. Everything else fits like a glove and has never ended up in BSOD.
http://in.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A87TD_EVO/#MSL
Check to see the 2X2GB combo and where you have placed the RAMs. Be sure about the timings that are company set, your model number should be listed in the link above, if not, exchange the sticks for something that exists in the QVL.

ncc74656

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do you have a UPS? this could be caused by a under volting issue not from the PSU but from teh wall outlet. how many amps are on each PCIe connector on that PSU? if you could list the exact model number that would help.

 

ncc74656

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you easily have the amps.

i would try the comptuer in another outlet in another room of the house. wouldnt not be the first time ive seen a voltage drop cause such issues. perhaps invest in a mid sized UPS, they are a good thing to have reguardless. you can pick up a decent one for under 80 bucks.

aside from that all i can think of is a software issue.
does it BSOD on a clean windows install before you install drivers or software?
 
What is the Model number of the RAM????
Check the Mobos Memory Compatibility List and check if that RAM is supported.
I have my doubts about the RAM alone, nothing else in the rig is abnormal. Everything else fits like a glove and has never ended up in BSOD.
http://in.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A87TD_EVO/#MSL
Check to see the 2X2GB combo and where you have placed the RAMs. Be sure about the timings that are company set, your model number should be listed in the link above, if not, exchange the sticks for something that exists in the QVL.
 
Solution

Drewcey

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Oct 19, 2011
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Hi. I realize that every BSOD is different, but sometimes people can experience similar issues.

I, like bachuba am having the same issue with frequent BSOD with occasional freezing and hard shut downs. I too have tried nearly everything bachuba has, with the exception of a hard drive check and re-installation of windows (which I was going to try next), to rule out the problem while also trying 3 different sets of memory.

In my mind, all of these tests, with the only similarity between bachuba and I being the M4A87TD motherboard leads me to believe that it is in fact the motherboard causing the issue.

If anyone can help find a solution, that hopefully doesn't require spending more money on a new motherboard, I know both of us would be eternally grateful for your time and effort.

Also, I do have a UPS so the outlet isn't a problem for me and I think it's a slim chance that it is for bachuba. Thanks so much.
 

ncc74656

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I would suggest installing a MB monitoring program that logs changes to a file. I would be interested to see if the MB is dropping or raising voltages to a component to such a degree that it causes a BSOD. ive seen this in the past with some power saving MB's just taking things a bit to far on the low voltage end of the CPU. perhaps go into your bios and change up some power saving settings to be a bit less power efficient.
 

bachuba

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Oct 12, 2011
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Sorry for the long delay in responding...

Moving to a different outlet did not fix the issue.

The memory model is G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL. It is listed in Asus' QVL.

I have had some success adjusting the setting in Asus' Power Management program, EPU. Moving it from the High Performance mode to Max Power Setting mode has greatly increased the system stability, but not fixed it outright. I'm not sure if this suggests a better fix to anyone?

Asus' support has recommended RMAing the MB, which will likely be my next step.

Thanks.
 

ncc74656

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perhaps its being over volted... the ram is 1.5V and the max performance may have been running it at 1.65. that may cause some issues if the speeds of the ram are not also ramped up. i would check to see what the ram voltage is moving between while in use, there may be a correlation.
 

bachuba

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Oct 12, 2011
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I think I might have found the solution.

First off, I followed these instructions for getting DD3-1600 to work with AMD CPU (Both method 1 and method 2 seemed to have worked) from gskill's forums:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=7688

Then, I found this post which dealt with my memory and mobo combination specificially, and mentioned enabling CPU Load Line and the CPU/NB Load Line Calibration:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?s=a9e74f6a3db929de9dd54a9a451552ed&t=8583

I set the EPU back to high performance and have been BSOD-free all night. All is not totally well, though, as I suspect my CPU is now running too hot as it got up to 68 C under load?